Its really weird Denise...ever since you posted that one a couple of weeks ago, I noticed one of my Pink Silver had one...we'll have to give it a "nickname"...how about "rogue peduncle"? I wonder what causes it?

Shax, most of the people in my valley have similar attitudes. By far, most are on the grid. A few are on solar. There's not frequent enough wind at a sufficient level to go with that. And small hydro requires the right sort of creek on your property. But independence is what a lot of people value in my rural area. Possibly back 25-30 years, there would have been a group here who would have tried neighbourhood-level power genration, it's not likely the case now. The principle would have to be modeled by other communities first, then people here might be willing to consider it seriously. I think of places like Davis, California (which I've never visited -- but have read about, from time to time). I tend to feel that if hydrogen is the near-future's fuel for cars and transport, then it will only really be a good thing if coupled with renewable-sourced electricity as the means to split the water molecule to derive the hydrogen. (That or bacterial production of hydrogen.) Home set-ups may make sense for a small portion of the population, but since the majority of people in most of the world now live in cities and suburbs, home set-ups in themselves probably can't be terrifically significant to planet Earth. Too individually expensive and demanding of maintenance. But they can be useful in some circumstances -- and they sort of make a statement of a positive sentiment, too. J.

Has anyone heard of the new energy saving google site called Blackle? How is Blackle saving energy? Blackle was created by Heap Media to remind us all of the need to take small steps in our everyday lives to save energy. Blackle searches are powered by Google Custom Search. Blackle saves energy because the screen is predominantly black. "Image displayed is primarily a function of the user's color settings and desktop graphics, as well as the color and size of open application windows; a given monitor requires more power to display a white (or light) screen than a black (or dark) screen." Roberson et al, 2002 In January 2007 a blog post titled Black Google Would Save 750 Megawatt-hours a Year proposed the theory that a black version of the Google search engine would save a fair bit of energy due to the popularity of the search engine. Since then there has been skepticism about the significance of the energy savings that can be achieved and the cost in terms of readability of black web pages. We believe that there is value in the concept because even if the energy savings are small, they all add up. Secondly we feel that seeing Blackle every time we load our web browser reminds us that we need to keep taking small steps to save energy. How can you help? We encourage you to set Blackle as your home page. This way every time you load your Internet browser you will save a little bit of energy. Remember every bit counts! You will also be reminded about the need to save energy each time you see the Blackle page load. Help us spread the word about Blackle by telling your friends and family to set it as their home page. If you have a blog then give us a mention. Or put the following text in your email signature: "Blackle.com - Saving energy one search at a time". Have a look at our energy saving tips page for ideas on steps you can take to save energy. There are a lot of great web sites about saving energy and being more environmentally friendly. They are full of great tips covering the little things that we can all do to make a difference today. Try Blackling "energy saving tips" or visit one of the many great blogs dedicated to environmental awareness. Contact Blackle - Privacy Policy - Blackle FAQ © 2008 Heap Media Here is a link that might be useful: Blackle

A million would have a big impact on my life ... the second million, somewhat less so, and the effect would be smaller with each additional million, it seems to me. Would the difference between a win of 5 million and 50 million really cause much difference in your life? It seems to me to make more sense, if you can justify such an expenditure, to be one of a couple of million participants in a pot worth, say, 5 million or so: much greater possibility of winning (but still about infinitesimally thin). As a personal financial consultant, I've never bought tickets (but won a few dollars when gas stations offered a ticket with the purchase with a certain gallonage of gas: no extra investment required ... but that project didn't last long). Poor investment is my call ... but if you can justify it as fun, rather than a much more expensive basketball or hockey game .. it's your money, to use as pleases you (to provide service not only now, but later, as well, is my hope). ole joyfuelled ... with help from a few dollars, here and there